Derek

Born in Sin

The 20^th of October 1977 saw the birth of another sinner into this world. I didn’t know it then but when I came into this world the Bible, the word of God, says that all have sinned (Romans 3:23, 5:12). When did this happen? Not when you actually do something wrong but when you are born into this world. Thus in John 3:7 Jesus said to Nicodemus Ye must be born again. Why? Because the first time you were physically born into this world, you were born in sin. To be born again means to have an origin that is from God, an origin that is heavenly, not earthly.

Yet I didn’t need the word of God to tell me that I was a sinner, at a very young age I automatically did those things that invited the punishment of a mother. Some may say that children do mischievous things and that’s why they are punished so much. However, all around us today we see that children in a day gone by, who did childish things have now become adults who do more mischief than when they were young! So it’s not because one is a child that they do wrong things but it is because of the age-old problem of sin. As a child I did things that displeased my mother and she had the control to punish me for those wrong actions. As an adult, parents have less authority and ability to punish us for the wrong we do, but many forget that they are accountable not only to the authorities of the country but to the Author and Creator of their country, the holy and righteous God.

Much of my mischief was not confined to the home environment but also at the place where my Mum went to gather unto the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Paramount Gospel Hall in Malaysia. As young as three years of age I was taken along to the meetings conducted there and especially vivid in my small little mind was the Sunday School and the gospel meetings. At Sunday School, I was taught Bible stories from the Fall of Adam to the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The gospel meetings were usually not understood and so I fell silently away into slumber. After the meetings were over I remember enjoying running around the hall and charging myself headlong into the protruding stomachs of some of the men. After all, I was at the right height where head and belly met perfectly. This earned me the title of “Tornado” which would come back to haunt me in later years, and also the chastisement from others because of my behaviour.

Burdened with Sin

As the years progressed my family migrated to Australia and I was brought to meetings that were held at the South Oakleigh Gospel Hall. The gospel meetings were exactly the same as the ones back in Malaysia, disinteresting, and the reaction was the same, slumber. I suppose this was not uncommon at the age of nine. Which was why it worried me one night when I actually stayed awake right through a gospel meeting. Could it be that the preacher was saying something that sparked a cord of reality in my heart?

The story was of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. Nothing else troubled me more than those words between us and you there is a great gulf fixed (v.26). The scenario is this, Lazarus has died and has gone to Abraham’s bosom (v.22), representative of a place of comfort and rest (v.25), and the rich man has gone to hell (v.23), a place of fiery torments (v.24). The rich man begs for Abraham to give him just a drop of water to cool his tongue because the flame was so excruciatingly torturous (v.24) but the reply was this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed. Not a lot of things in this world are sure and definite. We see the clouds hovering above and we think it is going to rain but then it doesn’t. We prepare for exams and we’re often not sure if we will pass. We go for job interviews and it is not sure that we will get the job. But there is one thing that is sure beyond all measure and that is there really is a great gulf between heaven and hell. If there was a great gulf between Lazarus and hell, then today I am sure that the gulf is no smaller than it was back in Luke 16.

So there I was, in the hall, sitting on my seat extremely discomfited because I knew full well where I was going. Not to the place of comfort and rest but to the place of torments. Like I said before, I didn’t need the Bible to tell me I was a brat, I knew it for myself, but it was because of my sin that I was not going to be in heaven. I knew something of being saved. A few months before that gospel meeting, my brother had professed to be saved. I knew my mother and father were saved but I knew I was not. So I did a bit of mental calculation and related the story to my situation. If my family and I were all to die that night, they would be in heaven and I would be in hell, and above all this, there would be that dreaded great gulf fixed between them and me! Could it be true? Is there really such a destination of eternal torments?

Nine years being brought up in an environment where the word of God was very much a part of my upbringing and sadly I could still say the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved (Jeremiah 8:20). In Sunday School, stories especially of the crucifixion of Christ gave me knowledge of His death, burial and resurrection. To me it was just all stories and nothing that I thought was relevant to me. Perhaps that is how you may be feeling right now about the story of the rich man and Lazarus, that it’s just too unreal to be true. That’s what I thought.

That night, I couldn’t sleep a wink as opposed to other nights when I couldn’t wait to get into bed and enjoy my sleep. What was happening to me? Was I at all affected by the gospel, for once? Even sleep and slumber couldn’t shake off the uneasy thoughts and feelings of being in a place of torments. It was as if I was already in hell where I’m sure that rich man was getting no sleep because of the pains and pangs of sufferings. Did I really want to be where he is today? The obvious answer was “No”. But what could I do about it? I decided, I would be saved tonight.

I threw off the blanket and told my mum that I wanted to be saved. Together we turned to John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It was then that I recalled the story of the cross and the crucified Christ hanging upon it. John 3:16 said to believe, but in what? I learnt it was not in what but rather in whom.

Born again unto Salvation

The 26^th of October 1986 saw the birth of a new babe in Christ who looked at the cross that night with the eyes of faith and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour. It was on that cross that He bore the judgment of my sins and my childish mischief. I would have received judgment that came in the form of hell if I never believed in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ has gone through the way of the cross of Calvary, suffering the punishment of sin that should have been mine to suffer. The entire purpose for such an act of grace is that whosoever believeth that He has done this for them shall be saved.

John 3:16 says to believe and not to do for if salvation depended upon good works I would be forever lost, or if it depended upon giving money to charities then at nine years of age I would be spiritually and eternally impoverished just like my bank account. Thank God He made the way of salvation so simple, to just believe. Well may I say then with the apostle John that I love Him because He first loved me (1 John 4:14), a sinner, saved by grace!

When the Saviour said, “Tis finished,”
Everything was fully done,
Done as God Himself would have it –
Christ the victory fully won.
Vain and futile the endeavour
To improve or add thereto;
God’s free grace is thus commended
To “believe” and not to “do”.

All the doing is completed,
Now ‘tis “look, believe, and live;”
None can purchase his salvation,
Life’s a gift that God does give;
Grace through righteousness is reigning,
Not of works lest man should boast;
Man must take the mercy freely,
Or eternally be lost.